Development boom

The central government last year unveiled unprecedented aid packages to boost development in Xinjiang, a region that boasts of rich oil and gas reserves and borders eight countries, including key regional trade partners like Russia, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan.

The central government's plan aims to build oil refineries, heavy machinery factories, cotton manufacturing bases, and modern animal husbandry facilities in Xinjiang by 2015.

The development boom will create jobs and bring wealth to the region, officials said.

The authorities aim to narrow the gap between Xinjiang and other inland regions as much as possible over the next 10 years, guaranteeing that Xinjiang will fulfill its goal of achieving a "moderately prosperous society in all aspects" by 2020.

That means Xinjiang's annual growth over the next five years should reach 10.5 percent per year.

According to the plan, Urumqi will be built into a "core city" in western China and an "international trade center" of central and western Asia by 2020. The authorities have planned two new districts in the city to be built with world-class city standards, a new rail linking it to inland regions and a second airport.

Nur Bekri, chairman of the regional government, vowed to accelerate the pace of opening-up on the eve of the riots' two-year anniversary.

"We need to open up more urgently now than ever," he said at an expert seminar in Urumqi on Monday. "We have lagged behind the inland and eastern coastal regions over the past three decades mainly because we had not fully opened up."